Certifications?

[Faberimicator]

I am a fabricator for a local company here in michigan and was wondering about getting certified I have heard a little bit about becoming certified But am not really sure how to go about. The only formal training that I have really had was in highschool at the tech center. Everything else is prettymuch self taught. Can you give any advice on this matter or should I not even bother

[WillietheWelder]

our company got in touch with a tech school with a welding program, we were isseued a plate test then a pipe test and both were sent out to be x-rayed. each test cost around $200 from what i understand.

[Sparky C]

I was just looking into getting certified for aluminum tig for a job, here is what I did;
Went on the American welding society web site, found a local welding school( in my case it is WTTI were Iwent to welding school in the first place)
It will be approx. $20.00 per hour, and 40 to 60 hours depending on how fast I progress.
To be certified you would have to do the class for each process you want to be certified in. And I may be wrong about this but I think certs are good for a year.

[Mark71GTX]

Certs

I got mine through the company i work for, but from what I understand your certs will stay current as long as you are still doing that type of welding. For instance if you certified as a pipe welder and didn't do any pipe welding for that year, you would lose the cert, but if you were welding pipe on a regular basis the cert would be good for years - from what I was told anyway...

[Faberimicator]

certifications

Ok I appreciate the information on how to get certified but what real good does it do me other than having it ?

[makeithot]

what good does it do

How about higher pay,more oppertunities,job promotion and ofcourse the respect of your pers.

[handirod]

Not sure if I’m going to be any help answering your question, but I worked for ConocoPhillips which was a non-Union refinery for about 7 years out of college & I decided to take their welding test to become a company certified welder. Their test was a B-31 procedure (I’m pretty sure…) in the 6G position. They inspected my root & hot pass. Then I finished the weld with a 3 bead cap. Basically it was 6” schedule 80 pipe, 5P root & hot, Lo-Hi fillet & 3 bead cap. You would then cut out 4 coupons from the weld & then they would bend the coupons. If your welds bent (& not bust or crack) then you were a certified welder for ConocoPhillips for that particular weld procedure, which made-up of about 99% of welds that they did anyway. They had a stainless project come up & I had to re-test for that particular weld procedure. Same thing as before but only on stainless & I had to Tig the root & hot and they actually x-rayed that weld. (Actually it was in the middle of the summer & it was to hot outside for the supervisor to leave his office to bend my coupons! ha ) I quit that job (I’m an idiot…) & started working for an electric utility company (which was Union) at one of their power plant. Even though they didn’t recognize my certification from CononcoPhillips it was a huge bonus for them hiring me! So once hired, I had to take their welding test & it was actually 3 different weld procedures all in the 6G position. Sorry I was so long winding, but in short, I think every company you work (or contract) with will have their own welding certification procedure. If anything else, make sure you’re ready to take & PASS the test on the first try. I do know for a fact that my certification was always good with each company as long as I made at least one x-ray weld a year. If I didn’t do this, I would have to re-test. I did take a structural welding test for the electric company, but it was a piece of cake compared to the pipe test. I will tell you more about that test if you want. I hope I helped, but as usual, I probably made things more confusing… especially if you’re not wanting to do the pipe thing… I do know for a fact we use contract welders on piping projects that are to large to do “in house” & they charge between $50 to $60 dollars an hour for their services. The Electric company supplies the welding rods, acetylene & oxygen on 10” pipe & larger but the contract welder supplies his own if its smaller then 10”. Take care buddy & good luck!!! Rod

[JonnyTIG]

There are what is called 'Open Procedures' and 'Closed Procedures'.

Open procedures are certifications you can get for specific welds that you can carry to any jobsite. You are tested by a company, ie AWS, CWB, etc. They usually last two years.

Closed procedures are certifications that are company specific. You work for a company, they test you for the welding required for thier product, and the certs are non-transferrable.

Most certifications I've run into last two years, unless you haven't done that type of welding for a few months, in which case you have to re-certify every year.

Generally if the welding being done isn't structural or pressure welding, then no re-certifying is necessary.

There is a fine line between a certified welder, and a quallified welder. Check into this difference locally, rules and laws change from state to state to province.

[beamwalker]

got my certs in vegas 3 and 4g. 1/8 to unlimited and i work for a guy that accepted them, and he writes a letter if my papers are questioned. sme told me they are good forever as long as i keep welding. they passed all my welds on a walgreens i worked on and he told me he wanted another outfit to come and look at the welds to see how they should be done. a monkey can weld, its just a matter of prep correct heat and travel speed. the impurities need a chance to boil out of the weld. thats just my .02

[mark4561]

certification

take the test here in maryland, the stick is $2,300 +240 for test. Everywhere I've been it's give you two piece l shape weld it corner to corner then do all your up's and down's and vertical's on it then cross horizonal, then when they rate it then you talk wage.

[JonnyTIG]

Beamwalker, Monkey's cant weld, and I'll tell you why.

You can teach a monkey righty tighty - lefty loosey,
But you can't teach a monkey to weld, because they are afraid of fire

I just had to throw that in for a laugh.

[garth]

hi there go to the aws web site and look for the tech college in your area they may let you come in and just take the test thats what they do here in maine made the appointment took the test was 300.00 got the results in 3 days aws cert unlimited and for pipe 24" and up. if you have the skills already you may not have to take the course.good luck.

[beamwalker]

Beamwalker, Monkey's cant weld, and I'll tell you why.

You can teach a monkey righty tighty - lefty loosey,
But you can't teach a monkey to weld, because they are afraid of fire

I just had to throw that in for a laugh.

beg to differ on that monkey cant weld stuff. just 1 rung below monkey on the chain are what you call ironworkers. they climb slide screech and so on. so you can teach a monkey to weld